1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and in particular to protective packages for film cassettes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Film manufacturer's cassettes containing 35 mm film are well known. Traditionally, a film cassette comprises a lighttight substantially cylindrical housing having an extending pair of lips slightly spaced apart to define a film egress/ingress mouth or slit, and a rotatable film spool for a coiled filmstrip inside the housing having two protruding spool ends that protrude at least to respective exterior end faces of the housing. One of the protruding spool ends is intended to be engaged in a camera, for example, by a rotational driver or a spindle, to rotate and/or support the film spool. When the film spool is rotated in a winding direction, the filmstrip will be wound onto the film spool. If, however, the film spool is rotated in an unwinding direction, the filmstrip will tend to expand radially against an inside curved wall of the housing until a friction-binding between the film roll and the inside wall is effected which prevents further spool rotation in the unwinding direction. Thus, in the traditional cassette the filmstrip must be pulled from the housing.
More recently, as disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,948,063, issued Aug. 14, 1990, in the name of John J. Niedospial, and 5,004,176, issued Apr. 2, 1991 in the name of John J. Niedospial, there has been proposed a film cassette that is capable of propelling the filmstrip from the housing responsive to unwinding rotation of the film spool. In this new cassette, it is no longer necessary to pull the filmstrip from the housing.
Typical containers for storing the film cassettes prior to use comprise a black plastic cylindrical can for loosely containing holding the cassette and a similar snap-on lid for covering an open end of the can.